Monday, June 19, 2017

Family History Blogging Can Help Others Find Their Ancestors

I am so excited to share with you that a previously unknown cousin contacted me recently to tell me some wonderful news.

He left a comment here on my blog. His comment began with this sentence:

"I was so happy to stumble onto your blog, as it has helped me finally crack the mystery of who my three times great grandfather was."

Isn't that awesome!? This previously unknown cousin and I share an ancestor in my Norwegian family line. My cousin's ancestor was one of the brothers of my third great-grandfather, Michael Christian Christopherson. My cousin also said,

"...and thanks to you I now have their parents names as well :) Thanks!"

Wow! You're very welcome cousin!

My cousin went on to say that I was a good DNA match with his grandmother on GEDmatch. Yay!

My new cousin's comments made me feel so good! It really is worth all of the time and effort to write about my ancestors in my blog. Not only is blogging about my ancestors beneficial to me, it's also helpful to others.

Have you had any cousins contact you because you shared your family history in your blog?

18 comments:

That is great!Yes, I wrote an article about knowing your family medical history as a hereditary deadly heart disease runs in our family and 2 of my cousin's kids have it. A previously unknown 3rd cousin contacted me a couple of weeks later that she was so glad to stumble upon my blog as her doctors thought she may have it, but were reluctant to confirm it because no one else in her family had it. Now she is getting the treatment she needs.

Hi Jana, congratulations on your newly-found cousin and on helping him crack his brick wall! In 9 years of blogging, I've had 3 or 4 cousins contact me after their online searches for family names brought them to one of my posts. No wonder I keep blogging. Genealogy really is fun, as your Twitter handle says.

Wonderful---congratulations! When I started my blog, I never knew it would be "cousin bait," but I have had so many wonderful cousins find me while searching for their family history. It's a real blessing!

Congratulations on your newly-found cousin!Yes, I've had a few cousins find me because of my blog, From Maine to Kentucky, as well as cousins of my husband's because of my blog, A Jewish Genealogy Journey. I also enjoy hearing from family, near and far, who enjoy what they find on my blog.

Oh how exciting!!! I'm yet to have any long lost cousins contact me but I hope that comes with time as I put more information on my website.

Cousins are one of the reasons i started the blog. We have a couple of unusual names in the family tree. After i 'googled' the names one day, the thought struck me that I could put myself out there for others to find when they googled the name too!

I love this Jana! I have had three really cool cousin connections in the last three weeks that have kept me VERY busy. The first was a completely unknown cousin who was adopted at birth that I found through DNA - a first cousin no less! The other two found me from my blog and both are helping me with some long standing questions I had, while I am able to tell them more about our deeper roots and share my research. It's so exciting to make these kind of connections!